Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) Shares Bought by RMR Wealth Builders

RMR Wealth Builders boosted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 69,163 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock after buying an additional 5,176 shares during the period. RMR Wealth Builders’ holdings in Verizon Communications were worth $2,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Quest Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 75,252.9% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 12,810 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $528,000 after purchasing an additional 12,793 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC grew its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 65,679 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,709,000 after purchasing an additional 6,449 shares during the period. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Verizon Communications by 32.7% in the 2nd quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 78,190 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $3,225,000 after acquiring an additional 19,258 shares during the last quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Verizon Communications by 7.0% in the 2nd quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,563 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Verizon Communications by 4.5% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,030,151 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock valued at $289,923,000 after acquiring an additional 299,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

Verizon Communications Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:VZ traded down $0.48 on Friday, hitting $37.78. 27,312,041 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 24,407,391. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Verizon Communications Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.56 and a fifty-two week high of $45.36. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.36 and a 200-day moving average of $41.81. The stock has a market cap of $159.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.46.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The cell phone carrier reported $1.19 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $33.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $33.42 billion. Verizon Communications had a return on equity of 20.05% and a net margin of 7.30%. Verizon Communications’s quarterly revenue was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Verizon Communications Inc. will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Verizon Communications Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 3rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.6775 per share. This represents a $2.71 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 7.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. Verizon Communications’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 116.81%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

VZ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on Verizon Communications from $44.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Verizon Communications from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded Verizon Communications from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $41.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Finally, Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $52.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Verizon Communications currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.54.

Verizon Communications Company Profile

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).